Mohumagadi Irchel
Cologne Zoo, Germany Mohumagadi(ZIF001) was born in the Cologne Zoo in Germany on September 14, 2008. She is a different sub-species than the Kalahari breed studied by the Kalahari Meerkat Project. She was born with one litter-mate sister. The siblings survived to adulthood since, unlike wild meerkats, they were raised in captivity with a substantial lack of predators and disease. She lived at the Cologne Zoo for two years before she, her litter-mate sister and another sister from a seperate litter were relocated to France. Parc Zoologique et Botanique de Mulhouse, France The three females arrived at their new encolsure in July 2010 and were joined by some males. This is where she was named "Bela" by the Mulhouse workers. However, she did not become the new group's dominate female but instead her litter-mate sister won dominance. Bela took a subordinate role in this new group. Soon after attaining dominance, Bela's sister became pregnant and began unleashing her aggression on her litter-mate sister. Bela became public enemy number one and maintained a low profile bit this was hard in an enclose space in the Zoo's enclosure. Finally, the Mulhouse Zoo aggreed to give Mohumagadi to Zurich to become one of the founders of a new group. Zurich University, Switzerland Bela arrived at her new home on February 10, 2011. She was given her ID code here ZIF001and was given her current name. The plan was to introduce Bela to three males from another zoo. At first, she was not able to mingle with the other three meerkats who founded the Irchel group. The males were Richard(ZIM002), Dom(ZIM003) and Mark(ZIM004), all brothers from different litters. They had arrived at Zurick Univerity on February 11, 2011 the day after Bela. Instead, she was released into the in-house enclosure, seporated from the males by a glass wall. She was very curious of her new surroundings and immediatly began making herself at home. The next day, the three males were released into her enclosure with only a mesh fence seporating them. She immediatly began courting Richard through the mesh. Four days later, the mesh was lifted and the four meerkats mingled and as soon as it was lifted she went straight to Richard. She mated with him, then Dom and last Mark. The new group was called Irchel Mob. They were all given the ZI ID code the Z for Zurich and I for Irchel. As there were no other females to compete with, Bela assumed the position as the dominate female. Richard became the dominant male at her side. However she mated with all the males and soon became pregnant. Soon after all the meerkats were given new names, Bela was renamed Mohumagadi, while Richard was called Kgosi, Dom was renamed Baka and Mark was named Bonako. On May 4, 2011 she gave birth to Neo. The small group began to look more and more like a mob with the new pup. On July 29, 2011, Mohumagadi gave birth to Golo, Remetla, Monate and Lemme. On February 25, 2012, she gave birth to her thrid litter of three pups, ZIP010, ZIP011 and ZIP012. This litter was followed by a litter of three in May. Then, in August a litter of four was born. Now, the Irchel had reached its maximum size. The Irchel females were given a contraceptive. (birth control) Mohumagadi is still alive today as Irchel's dominant female. Links Irchel Mob Category:Zoo meerkats Category:Irchel meerkats Category:Dominant Females Category:Dominate meerkats Category:Dominant meerkats